AN: Quick little thing before we start, I've decided to follow suit of a few other authors and reply to reviews at the end of the chapter. I realized I probably shouldn't be so shy with my readers, and this way you get to know a little bit more about me! Hope you guys don't mind!

And yes, I named this chapter after a meme. No, I don't apologize.

~Chapter Six: Anyway, Here's Wonderwall~

Well... Sonic had seriously underestimated his opponent. How could something that looked so cute have the ability to electrocute him, all while it darted about the stage chirping away like it came right out of a cartoon? Slightly frazzled, Sonic comically stumbled out of the teleporter and was met with several knowing looks from the other Smashers, while Pikachu exited the other, chirping away happily before bounding up to Sonic and holding out his tiny paw.

"Yeah, good game. I'll know next time though," Sonic told the Pokemon, shaking his paw.

"Pika!" Pikachu responded, then darted out of the room leaving Sonic and a few spectators alone in the transporter room, several screens replaying the match that had just transpired.

"Don't feel so bad about losing!" Pit cheerfully stated. "Everyone loses to Pikachu 'cause we're all too busy gushing over how cute he is! I still have scorch marks on my wings to prove it!"

"Wish Red could have been here to warn me," Sonic lamented, thinking about his friend who was currently in the infirmary thanks to a reckless stunt involving a bicycle and a stairwell. "But whatever. I'm not really here to win anyway."

Pit nodded, fluttering his wings. "Well, I'm gonna go check in on Red. Do you wanna come along?"

"Eh, not this time. I think I'm gonna do a bit more explorin' around here, I've nearly got the entire layout of the mansion memorized."

"Okay, see you later!"

Waving, Pit disappeared down the hall while Sonic took one final glance around the transporter room, clicking his tongue before leaving and going in the opposite direction Pit had been going, lacing his hands behind his head. At the end of the hallway Sonic noticed a door that was slightly open, and being the curious hedgehog he was peeked in before opening the door fully and stepping into the room.

So the mansion had a music room. Impressed, Sonic's eyes fell onto the guitars that hung on the walls, the drum set in the corner with a fine layer of dust, and several sheets of music that lay haphazardly on the table, along with a lone ocarina. To Sonic, it looked like the place hadn't been used in years.

After taking one final lap around the room Sonic turned to leave, but a certain guitar hanging on the wall caught his eye. It was an electric guitar, blue in colour, and no matter how many times Sonic told himself to leave the room, he found himself circling around back to it. Quirking an eyebrow, he gently lifted the guitar from the wall and held it for a moment before sitting down on one of the many chairs scattered around the room.

"I think I need an amp for an electric guitar..." Sonic mumbled to himself, glancing around and finding one against one of the walls. Dragging it over he plugged the guitar into it and ran his thumb across the strings, one at a time at first, then quickly across all of them.

He really liked the sound. Setting the guitar down he got up and glanced around the room, finding a book that went through detailed tutorials on how to play the guitar along with how to read sheet music. Smirking to himself, Sonic set the book up on a stand, grabbed the guitar again, and after a moment began to teach himself how to play.

/~/

Mario thought he'd heard something.

He'd been in the spectator room watching the match between Ike and Lucario, all while feeling a bit guilty that he'd missed the match between Pikachu and Sonic. Not that it could really be helped at all, Link had been mildly injured in a previous match and Mario needed to be there in order to make sure his wounds healed properly, not to mention that Red was still in the infirmary thanks to his broken leg. After the match was over and Ike came out victorious, Mario had left with the intent of retreating back to his dorm for the day...

...Until he heard music.

Curiously, Mario made his way over to where the sound was coming from, noticing the door to the music room was open. This surprised him, as no one had used it in such a long time that Master Hand had considered getting rid of it altogether. However, Mario had persuaded him to keep it a little bit longer, suspecting that maybe a newcomer or two would be interested in music and may want to use it.

Mario only intended to quickly glance in, but after seeing who was in there he tilted his head, leaning against the doorjam and watching the oblivious Sonic adjust his fingers on the neck of the guitar before his eyes lifted to the music in front of him, squinting in concentration. After a moment, Sonic re-positioned his fingers and began to play.

Yes, it was a little bit shaky, and yes, Mario could tell that Sonic had only picked up a guitar maybe an hour or so ago... but it still sounded good. And Mario could tell that Sonic was passionate about this new hobby of his, considering he quietly swore whenever he messed up and started from the beginning. After several minutes of restarts, Sonic finally made it to the end of the song, a small smirk on his face. Deciding to make his presence known, Mario gave a small round of applause causing Sonic to jump and swivel towards his rival.

"How long have you been there?" he questioned.

"I'd say ten minutes or so. You're pretty good you know."

Glancing at the guitar in his hands, Sonic smiled. "Yeah, it's pretty fun. I'm thinkin' that this'll probably be my hobby for the rest of the tournament, besides running of course."

Mario rolled his eyes at that last statement, before looking around the music room. "As I'm sure you were able to guess, no one uses this room much anymore. So it's nice to see at least one Smasher interested in music, considering that the last one-" he cut himself off as his eyes fell on the abandoned ocarina on the table, Sonic eyeing him curiously.

"'The last one' what?"

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing," Mario dismissed. "But anyway, you keep on practicing, from what I've heard you have a lot of potential."

Sonic, slightly embarrassed by the praise, ran a hand through his quills. "Aw, c'mon, I can't be that good."

"I'm being serious," Mario confirmed. He turned to leave, raising a hand. "But I'll leave you be for now. I'll see you around!"

Sonic watched Mario leave, an odd feeling residing in his chest and stomach. A small laugh escaped his lips as he stood to place the guitar back on the wall, feeling oddly happy at Mario's words. For some reason, he couldn't stop smiling.

It was until he caught sight of his reflection in the hallway mirror did he realize he was blushing, but for what reason he couldn't figure out why.

Replies:

Smash King24: As a fan of your stories, I kind of freaked out a bit when I saw you reviewed. So thank you very much! Yeah, about...half-ish of this story is gonna take place at the Olympics, but I'm still going to make sure to mention the Smashers during that time. This is a Smash Brothers story for a reason, and we're coming back to the mansion for the Sm4sh era. I've always thought that if Sonic had a bigger role in SSE it would have been similar to the Lucario and Meta Knight fight, where you choose to play as either Mario or Sonic, take down the opposite fighter, the winner revives the trophy and then they become allies.
It is a rare pairing, isn't it? And yeah, I really wanted to capture the fact that they have some sort of history with each other, and the gradual change in their relationship. And Sonic will be interacting with more of the Smashers, though it becomes more apparent during the Sm4sh era.